Traffic Incident Management

TIM is one of several current FDOT District Four Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) programs designed to assist the TMC and enhance incident management activities throughout the District. The TIM protocol brings together various agencies responsible for responding to incidents. They address issues that arise from the diverse institutional functions and individual goals of each agency. The multi-agency TIM partners meet bimonthly in Broward County, Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast (Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River Counties) to provide, discuss and improve operational services related to incident management.

Click on the links below to find out more about Traffic Incident Management:

About

Mission : Provide efficient, coordinated, and consistent traffic incident management across the state that will improve the safety and reliability of the transportation network.

Vision: Develop an institutionally integrated, fully cooperative association of all public agency and private industry traffic incident management stakeholders to improve the safety and reliability of the Florida Transportation system and maintain Florida's status as a national leader in TIM programs.

Defining communication protocols is one of the major issues faced by incident management teams; communication with each other on the scene, communication from the scene to the TMC, the media, and other interested parties, and communication to the public.

Incident clearance is the process of removing wreckage, debris, or any other element that disrupts the normal flow of traffic or forces lane closures, and restoring the roadway capacity to its pre-incident condition. At times, this may also include temporary or permanent repair to the infrastructure.

The uniform training of all incident responders is essential to meeting overall incident management goals. All responders to traffic incidents must be trained in open roads policies, traffic control, quick clearance techniques, and unified incident command.

Incident verification entails confirming that an incident has occurred, determining its exact location, and obtaining as many relevant details about the incident as possible in order to dispatch the proper initial response. Incident verification is generally complete with the arrival of the first responders on the scene.

Incident response includes dispatching the appropriate personnel and equipment, and activating the appropriate communication links and motorist information media as soon as there is reasonable certainty that an incident has occurred.

Teams

Traffic incident management (TIM) is one of several successful proactive programs designed to assist our regional Transportation Management Center (TMC) with incident management and surface transportation–related activities throughout South Florida . District Four serves I-595 (monitored and maintained by I-595 Express, LLC) in Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Saint Lucie, and Indian River counties.

Mission : Develop recommendations that will provide a safe, efficient, and appropriate multiagency RESPONSE to traffic incidents through timely and accurate DETECTION AND VERIFICATION.

According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), traffic incident management is the planned and coordinated program process to detect, respond to, and remove traffic incidents, restoring traffic capacity as safely and quickly as possible. This coordinated process involves a number of public and private sector partners, including the following agencies and services:

District Four Roadway Clearance and Incident Clearance Times

Reduce Roadway Clearance Time (the time between awareness of an incident and restoration of lanes to full operational status)

36.5 Minutes

Reduce Incident Clearance Time (the time between awareness of an incident and removal of all evidence of the incident, including debris of remaining assets, from shoulders as well as disabled and abandoned vehicles)

54.3 Minutes

Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) Program

The purpose of the RISC Program is to expedite the safe clearance of major incidents from the highways using heavy duty, specialized equipment. This program is put in place in conjunction with Florida’s “Open Roads Policy,” which states that the roadways will be cleared as soon as possible with the goal of all agencies that incidents be cleared within 90 minutes of the arrival of the first responding officer.

The RISC program offers financial incentives to qualified companies to respond to and clear major incidents such as large vehicle crashes, rollovers, fires and cargo spills within a specified period of time.

RISC Activation Procedure:

The TMC will notify the appropriate RISC contractor to mobilize and provide the details and estimated time of arrival to FHP.

The RISC contractor will have one hour to arrive on scene with the required equipment. Once arrived on scene, if not needed, the RISC contractor will receive a flat rate service payment of $600.

Once given a "notice to proceed" by the Trooper on scene, the RISC contractor will have 90 minutes to "open all travel lanes"

The RISC contractor, in order to receive an Emergency Response and mobilization payment of $2,500, must have both; arrived within one hour and opened all travel lanes within 90 minutes.

If the RISC Contractor is requested to mobilize and respond with "Additional Trucks and Heavy Equipment", the RISC contractor will be paid $600 if the equipment is not used, and $1000 if the equipment is used.

If the RISC contractor fails to perform the recovery within 90 minutes, no performance payment will be issued.

Failure to clear a non-hazardous materials incident within 3-hours will result in a flat rate penalty of $600. An additional $600 will be assessed for each additional hour or $10 per minute ($600 per hour).

The State of Florida will recover costs associated with the RISC Program from the responsible parties’ insurance companies and intend the program to be financially self-sustaining by the end of the three-year contract period.

The District Four RISC contract was released in October 2008. It’s an “open contract,” which means towing companies can submit proposals at any time during the three-year contract period. Certification for the RISC Program requires the review of the towing contractors’ facilities, their commercial licenses, insurance, and other criteria. This inspection is designed to certify only those towing contractors capable of providing heavy duty recovery on interstate highways.

FHWA Self Assessment Scores

In 2003, the Federal Highway Administration began a national study to determine the “state of the art” of Traffic Incident Management. The Traffic Incident Management Self Assessment is a tool to be used by state and regional program managers to assess their achievement of a successful multi-agency program to manage traffic incidents effectively and safely.

The results of the Self Assessment are also used to identify national TIM program initiatives by the FHWA. Compare our TIM Team scores against the national average.

For more information on the Self Assessment process, please go to the following link: